LOTIERZO: Now You Have All Reasons Needed To Boycott Mayweather-Berto

This Saturday night, boxing’s biggest star, Floyd Mayweather 48-0 (26) takes on Andre Berto 30-3 (23) in defense of his WBC welterweight and WBA super welterweight titles.

The fight hasn’t gone over well at the box office and interest in the bout isn’t even lukewarm. And a lot of that has to do with the residual stench of the faux fight of the century between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao this past May. The fight with Pacquiao was the ultimate letdown from an action perspective. And the choice of Berto as his follow- up opponent, a guy who is 3-3 in his last six bouts, doesn’t help.

On May 31st 2015 it was stated in this space:

“The biggest revelation pertaining to the showdown occurred at the post fight press conference when Manny Pacquiao announced that he went into the fight with an injured shoulder. The injury occurred during training in early April. However, during training Pacquiao was allowed to get injections of toradol for his shoulder and was able to proceed with his preparations for the fight. Pacquiao’s camp cleared getting the shots with USADA, the drug-testing body that Mayweather’s side insisted upon. USADA says, ‘Fine, a shot of toradol is fine.’ So you’d think there’d be no problem getting them on fight night. Ultimately at the 11th hour the Nevada State Athletic Commission says Pacquiao can’t get the shot of toradol because of essentially a clerical error, because some box wasn’t checked off, a form wasn’t filled right. If people are mad at anybody for Pacquiao not being at his best, if that’s the belief, be mad at the Nevada State Athletic Commission, in my view.”

A couple days before the Berto fight, it’s been alleged that Mayweather, the fighter who wanted so badly to clean up boxing, circumvented the system himself.

As was reported in the Washington Post:

According to a report by Thomas Hauser of SB Nation, Mayweather received two intravenous injections, adding up to 750 milliliters of fluid, the day before the May 2 fight, which he won by unanimous decision in Las Vegas. The fluids that the boxer’s camp said were in the injections, mixtures of saline solution and vitamins, would not have been inherently illegal, but the quantity, in that time frame, could have masked another substance and would have been in violation of rules set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Furthermore, representatives of USADA, which is supposed to abide by WADA rules, became aware of the injections when they went to administer a drug test to Mayweather, but the agency failed to report the incident to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which sanctioned the fight. The NSAC was only made aware of the injections nearly three weeks after the bout, and even then, USADA claimed that it had granted Mayweather a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), basically a get-out-of-jail-free card, which some experts quoted by Hauser found very odd, at the very least.

Also on May 31st 2015 it was stated in this space:

“So I only have one question that no one has asked, if Floyd Mayweather needed the shot of toradol, do you think the Nevada commission would’ve refused him due to a technicality as they did Pacquiao? I say no way on God’s clay and granite planet…simply because keeping Mayweather undefeated is big business. No way would he have been declined, yet Pacquiao was because it was better for business if Floyd left the ring 48-0. Think about that the next time you contemplate picking Mayweather to lose at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Floyd Mayweather is practically the Vegas boxing commission and he gets what he wants. If he’s accepted the proposed terms of the fight, there ain’t no way in the world he’s losing.”

Well it certainly appears that the fighter who delayed the Pacquiao fight for six years because of the fear that Pacquiao was using illegal PEDs, is the biggest phony and hypocrite in boxing history.

The revelation is that Mayweather took an overabundance of the mixtures of saline solution and vitamins could’ve masked other substances and that would’ve been in violation of rules set forth by the anti-doping agency. And when this occurred it wasn’t reported to the Nevada State Athletic commission. Or as I believe, the NSAC was complicit and didn’t want to know because they were tilting the table against Pacquiao and aiding Mayweather.

Now you have every reason in the world not to purchase Mayweather’s fight with Andre Berto. You’re not going to hurt Andre because his money is guaranteed, but Mayweather will get a big piece of the total buys. So why help him any further when you now know with a high degree of certainty that he’s about as believable as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And like Brady, if you live in the real world no one ever gets caught circumventing the rules the first time you attempt it. At least I know anytime in my life I tried to game the system or get over, I never got caught the first time and I doubt you have.

And like Brady probably knowing the footballs used in the AFC championship game versus the Indianapolis Colts were most likely under inflated, I can’t say for sure that Floyd’s two IV interjections were the reason he won the fight against Pacquiao. All that I do know is that like Brady, Mayweather felt that his pre-bout IV aided him, and a lot of competing in sports at the highest level is more mental than it is physical.

Who knows what Mayweather took or possibly gave himself enough time to cleanse from his system for the upcoming fight with Berto? All that I know is like all Mayweather fights in Vegas, because he seemingly controls the commission, in my opinion, the deck is stacked against Berto. Andre has probably given so much blood for PED testing he could replenish the Red Cross. In the meantime, who knows what Mayweather has been doing, because he sets the rules and controls the NSAC.

Berto can’t beat the system and win a legitimate decision and he’s not good enough to knock Floyd out. Oh, and it’s very doubtful that the fight will be fan friendly, regardless how personal Berto has said that it is. So why bother getting gouged again by the fighter who has stolen and lied to his fans more than any other star fighter/boxer in history?

Let those who get paid to report on the fight do the leg work. I say keep walking, there’s nothing to see that you haven’t seen already when it comes to Mayweather vs. Berto. Wake up fans, and either go out Saturday night or checkout the Oregon (7) at Michigan St. (5) game Saturday night. It’ll be more action packed and less pre-ordained!

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

Photo From Esther Lin/SHOWTIME